XB6 XBB1-A Backup Battery Question

There are two manufacturers for the XB6 gateway - ARRIS and Technicolor. I have the Technicolor build of the XB6.

For a Voice service backup battery, I have a new XBB1-A external battery backup unit manufactured by ARRIS. Is this ARRIS-manufactured version of the XBB1-A battery backup certified to also be fully compatible for working with the Technicolor XB6 gateway? If available please provide a source for that knowledge if you are aware of it.

When logged into the XB6 control panel as administrator, the battery icon at the top of the main page shows "0" (puzzling) and in the hardware section it shows the battery connected and charging (~35%) along with other battery information.

Re: XB6 XBB1-A Backup Battery Question

Not sure about any customer-facing documentation, but I can tell you that our internal documentation states that the XBB1-A manufactured by Arris is compatible with both our Arris and Technicolor XB6 Gateways. Currently there is no other company we have partnered with to manufacture the XBB1's.

When the manual you reference had been published, the Technicolor XB6 was not yet released.

My Gateway is the Technicolor model and the XBB1-A works well with it. You can test it by initiating a phone call, and then unplugging the battery from the wall outlet, simulating an outage where your Gateway would not be receiving power. The phone call should stay connected.

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Re: XB6 XBB1-A Backup Battery Question

Thanks, just saw your reply, appreciated, this is useful info. I've a follow-up question - when logged directly into the XB6 through its IP address from my desktop computer as an admin, I can view the connectivity and certain somewhat confusing, somewhat informative battery status stats of the XBB1-A battery on the "hardware" tab of the control interface. However, in the upper right of the main admin screen, the battery icon shows as empty, similar to what one would see on a laptop or phone battery icon that's indicating no juice, yet the hardware tab's data says the battery is charged near capacity... Is this discrepancy a firmware bug? The battery itself does keep the phone line operative when unplugged from AC, by the way, at least for the minute or so I tested it.

PS - is there a reason why it's such a challenge to get full technical and operating info on the XBB1-A? Why not have this plus an FAQ all in one handy spot? It's like requesting state secrets! The Comcast group that sells them is fairly uninformed on the specs etc., to put it kindly.

Re: XB6 XBB1-A Backup Battery Question

I have seen the icon read incorrectly as well in the Gateway Interface - not only with the XBB1, but also with other eMTA Batteries. It seems to be an intermittent problem. You may be able to get that to clear up by resetting your Gateway and/or your XBB1-A. I'm not sure if this is a firmware issue, but that is a good guess. As long as you're seeing valid battery vlaues in the Hardware section, you're good to go... that is the source of truth and is the information we'd be using to perform Battery Monitoring from our end.

I know we're working to move away from the Gateway Admin interface and integrate more and more into xFi. I'll send a note to that team to suggest adding the XBB1 and battery level information into that product, which may prove helpful.

As for documentation - we do publish FAQ's and Quick Setup manuals for most of our devices... in this case the XBB1-A Battery setup guide can be found here:

Not sure about state secrets on the technical manuals! I do know we have detailed technical guides published for our engineers and technicians that are considered to be Comcast Confidential and proprietary (probably to avoid giving too much information away to our competitors, in some cases)... but we generally try to create guides that are as easy as possible to read and understand -- i.e. non-techncial -- for our cusotmer base, based on many years of feedback.

Being someone who can appreciate days when full-fledged manuals were the norm, I know where you're coming from though!

Here is some additional information on the LED states on the XBB1 that you might find interesting that is not published in our XBB1 Guide (this is info that is cleared for our front line representatives to provide):

Red: Software failure. Replacement of battery may be needed if Power Cycling or resetting the device does not clear the error.

No Light: Battery Mode. The battery is currently in use. Lights are not illuminated while operating in Battery Mode.

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Re: XB6 XBB1-A Backup Battery Question

Thanks for all of this info, most of which I'd recommend to be provided to consumers as a direct link with batteries provided for the XB6 gateways! Previous to your helpful answers herein I had communications with *many* Comcast support folks *none* of whom had much knowledge on the topics or who, instead, had erroneous information, or who didn't get back to me in follow up. On the topic of a decent manual being made available that covers features, technical specs and a guide to operations, it's hard for me to imagine that that info is highly sought after by competitors given that there wouldn't be circuit diagrams, parts listing, and technician-level technical troubleshooting material.